Goodnight, Raleigh!

Greg stands back and observes as his coworker Charlie installs a new flag on the First Citizens building on Fayetteville Street.

This is John. He’s a bicycle rickshaw driver by night, and by day he and his wife are personal fitness trainers. They are a husband and wife team that comes to your residence twice a week to help you train and get in shape. You can visit them on the web at Fitness With Stuef.

Pictured above are Angel (top) and Lamont (above). They are two of Raleigh’s Downtown Ambassadors. On bicycle patrol, they serve as additional eyes and ears for the RPD. While on patrol they are responsible for a particular district (Warehouse, Glenwood, etc). I admittedly do not know the full scope of their job responsibilities, but at face value it seems like an awesome job–get paid to ride around Raleigh at night and get to know everyone coming downtown.

Officer Jack (left) and Officer Edwards (right) talking with someone at Moore Square Station who may possibly be intoxicated. He was swearing pretty loudly as I walked by, which got my attention. They ended up leaving without incident.

These photos were taken shortly before one a.m. on a Friday night. You have to admire the drive and passion to volunteer for something at that hour. Everyone was very friendly and nice and obviously trying to encourage me to come aboard.
The Obama Campaign office opened a week ago at 130 East Morgan Street. It was also covered in The Technician. Michelle Obama spoke just a few days ago at the Reynolds Coliseum at NCSU.

(photograph by Steve Wilcox)
Joe Battle, Jr. owns and operates the Skyy Dogs by Joe, Inc. vending truck. You will often find Tom and his lab, Bea, visiting with Joe downtown.

No, I wasn’t ambulance chasing, I just happened to be walking by as the garage doors were opening and lights were blinking. Most days the garage doors are closed at night, but every now and then they are left open when work is slow. Back in August I got a photo of a few EMS workers Paramedics hanging out during such a period. This is also the second time I’ve captured an ambulance downtown.

This is an attorney working late on a Saturday night in downtown Raleigh. It was 1:00 A.M. when this picture was taken.

I have directly referenced the News & Observer at least once or twice on this blog. At that time there were a few workers out back on a smoke break. Recently I ended up walking by the same area, and bumped in to a few workers again.
An individual (who wouldn’t let me take a pic of them) stated that the number of press operators working during a specific shift had been reduced from 1/2-2/3, on average. Basically, one way or another 3 people are now doing the job that recently as many as 6 or more would, and that it represented a trend. This person also referenced the buyout of Knight Ridder by The McClatchy Company on several occasions as contributing to the reduction in staff. The USA Today article says about McClatchy:

Although it owes its birth to the California Gold Rush — the chain began in 1857 with The Sacramento Bee— the company takes few risks. It focuses on small to midsize newspapers in its core markets in the Northwest or in growing communities in North and South Carolina.

And a bit more ominously:

Pruitt [CEO] says he expects to cut costs by about $60 million a year.

These quotes were references to the buyout in 2006. There really is no way to verify that this person’s claims have anything to do with what’s happening now, two years on.